I have, and know of, five volumes in the Sheridan series. I've read them all, and recommend them all. This series is right up there with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. Sheridans are harder to find, but are great reading.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a very well written book on the life and career of James Mason. I highly recommend it. I wish; however, that there would have been a little more in it about his personal life. All in all a well written biography.

Sheridan Morley's biography of David Niven is a more concise an indepth look at the British actor's life and career than that portrayed by Niven in his own autobiography "The Moons a balloon". As Morley points out Niven writes more about his Hollywood experiences then actually about himself, creating a narrative that delves superficially in terms to his own life story as to that of his famous friends. Morley is an equitable writer who provides a fair and detailed account of the man and actor who was always slightly bemused by his own success. Morley offers no nasty hidden skeletons in the Niven closet but does clarify those stories that the actor alluded to in his books, especially the affair he had with Merle Oberon and the traumatic mental breakdowns that plagued Vivian Leigh. An interesting biography of a truly charming man.

"Philoctetes" takes place near the climax of the Trojan War. The title character has the great bow of Hercules, given by the demi-god on his pyre to Philoctetes's father. A member of the Achaean expedition that sailed to Troy, Philoctetes was making an altar on an island along the way when he was bitten by a snake. His cries of pain were so great that he was abandoned by his shipments, under the orders of Odysseus, and marooned on the deserted island of Lemnos. Alone and crippled, Philoctetes used the great bow to survive for the ten years the Achaeans have been fighting against Troy. During that time his hatred against the Achaeans in general, and Odysseus in particular, has grown.

Meanwhile, back at Troy, Odysseus and the other Achaean chieftains have learned from an oracle that Troy will fall only with the help of Philoctetes and his bow (a juicy tidbit it certainly would have been nice to have known eight or nine years earlier). Odysseus and Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, are sent to bring Philoctetes and his bow back to the war. Of course, Odysseus dare not show himself to Philoctetes and sends Neoptolemus to do the dirty work. Neoptolemus gains the confidences of the crippled man by lying about taking him home. During one of his agonizing spasms of pain, Philoctetes gives his bow to Neoptolemus. Regretting having lied to this helpless cripple, Philoctetes returns the bow and admits all, begging him to come to Troy of his own free will. Philoctetes refuses and when Odysseus shows his face and threatens to use force to achieve their goal, he finds himself facing a very angry archer.

In "Philoctetes" Sophocles clearly deals with the balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of society. But this is also a play about citizenship and the need for the idealism of youth to be give way to the responsibilities of adulthood. In fact, this lesson is learned both by Philoctetes, who is taught by the shade of Hercules who appears to resolve the tenses conclusion, and Neoptolemus, who finds his duties at odds with his idealized conception of heroism based upon his father. Although this is a lesser known myth and play, "Philoctetes" does raise some issues worth considering in the classroom by contemporary students.

"Philoctetes" is similar to other plays by Sophocles, which deal with the conflict between the individual and society, although this is a rare instance where Odysseus appears in good light in one of his plays; usually he is presented as a corrupter of innocence (remember, the Greeks considered the hero of Homer's epic poem to be more of a pirate than a true hero), but here he is but a spokesperson for the interests of the state. Final Note: We know of lost plays about "Philoctetes" written by both Aeschylus and Euripides. Certainly it would have been interesting to have these to compare and contrast with this play by Sophocles, just as we have with the "Electra" tragedies

This slim little book is an ideal guide for anyone working with older adults, particularly Alzhiemer's patients. It suggests that by reminisincing people find a sense of self identity and can better train their mind to retain memory and boost self-confidence. An interesting therapeutic approach.

This is the first major comedy by Sheridan, a radical Irish actor and politician in George III's England. Not quite as complex and astute as his later She Stoops to Conquer, the Rivals remains a warm, unforgettable, and very, very funny play.

Here we meet the chatty Mrs. Malaprop, who proudly tells us "if I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs"; her niece Lydia, lost in the world of lurid half-bound romantic novels; Sir Anthony Absolute, often wrong but never in doubt; Sir Lucious O'Trigger, of BlunderBuss Hall; and the rest. The dialogue and plot devices are well-crafted and funny; the social commentary is perceptive and satisfyingly naughty; but what stays with you is the humanity of each of the characters. These are not the charicatures of Restoration comedy, but personalties the reader will remember; ridiculous like all humans, but engendering empathy as well as laughter.

Chedzoy does a very good job bring the story of Caroline Norton to life. While very accurate, Chedzoy avoids the common tendency of biographers to dwell on dates and times but focuses instead on Caroline's actual life, which was remarkable. She was born into a family situation which forced her to marry a man which she did not love, and he soon became physically abusive to her. She was close friends with William Melbourne, who became Prime Minister of England, and her husband accused her of "criminal conversation" (a euphemism for adultery) even though he knew very well that this was completely untrue. Caroline's husband eventually took her three children from her and would not allow them to be returned to her until one of them died due to poor medical treatment. In retaliation, Caroline went to Parliament and over the course of a few years reformed the British laws for women. Overall, this was a very good book, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in women's rights, poetry and literature (Caroline wrote many poems and novels-- during her life, she was compared to Byron and thought of as more talented that E.B. Browning), or English history in general.

A fine account of a most interesting and crucial series of Civil War battles. Stackpole treats everyone very fairly. Broad in its scope, audacious in its execution this book analyzes the Confederacy's third and final invasion of the North. A very excellent work that is well worth the time.

Here is a really useful SPSS book: - it is spiral bound so it lies open on the desk for easy use - the authors group their material together - the format is large page so you see plenty of information when it is open

Chapter starting page 25 on data screening including recoding is a really useful reminder about the basics

There are a couple of things they (or the publisher) MUST do for the next edition: 1. Include an index 2. Explain some of the sub-dialog boxes for that appear under the sub menus eg frequencies (under analyse); scatterplot & boxplots under graph 3. Cover importing data via Excel etc

I read this right after I finished The Distant Lands, inspired to read both books by news of the author's deaath in Paris on August 13. So I have read some 1500 pages of Green since he died. Some of the things in this book were annoying, but if one looks at the whole as painting a picture I believe one can see a reason for the sometimes tedious detail. His characters sure do a lot of kissing, and apparently the central character and her husband were more uxorious than the usual fictional characters, which is saying quite a bit.